54 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



81. Hirundo Capensis, Gmei., PI. En., 723 ; Guv., 



2, p. 63 ; H. Cucullata, Bodd. ; L'Hirondelle Ron- 

 selline, Le Vail, PL 245, f. 1. 



HEAD deep rufous ; back, wings, and tail black ; the former 

 with a bluish tinge, the rest greenish ; the rump, nuchal 

 collar, and all the under parts reddish- brown ; the shafts of 

 the feathers being dark-brown, almost approaching to black. 

 Tail deeply forked, and broadly barred with white ; throat 

 pale ; eye dark-brown. Length to end of elongated tail- 

 feathers, 8" ; wing, 5" ; tail, 4" 6"'. 



This is the household swallow of the colony, breeding freely about 

 the houses, and in the country, often selecting the usual living-room 

 of the family. In the city this familiarity is not permitted, on account 

 of the dirt made by the birds ; but the Boer fixes up a board under 

 the nest, to prevent the worst fouling, and considers that the rest is 

 atoned for by the destruction of the myriads of flies, of which his 

 little favourites rid him during the season of their stay. And only 

 those who have sojourned in a Boer's house can estimate the plague of 

 flies that infest it : they swarm on " bed and board ;" they pollute the 

 food and drink ; chairs, tables, walls, everything is blackened by 

 them. No wonder, then, that the swallow is a welcome guest, and that 

 to rob his nest is to get into the bad books of every member of .the 

 family. 



As you sit at meals, the graceful bird hawks over the table, and 

 snatches the flies from the walls and ceiling ; nor is this the only service 

 he renders, for, sitting on the top of the window or door (always left 

 open for his accommodation), he pours out a short but lively song, 

 which enlivens the dreary solitude and silence of the lone homestead. 



The nest of this species is always attached to the under side of the 

 place chose'n, and is composed of little pellets of mud, like that of the 

 English swallow. In shape it resembles a gourd with a long neck, 

 cut through longitudinally and glued up by the edges to the ceiling. 

 It lays four or five pure white eggs : axis, 10 /// ; diam., 6'". 



I cannot see how Le Vaillant could have overlooked our European 

 swallow, imagining that this bird had by some travellers been proba- 

 bly taken for it. Any one mistaking the two, except at a very great 

 distance, could have had but small practice in discriminating between 

 birds in their native wilds. But, singularly enough, Le Vaillant 

 omits the two European species, H. Rustica and C. Apus, from 

 his list. 



The Rev. John Fry, of Bondebosch, lately related to me a singular 

 instance of the reasoning powers of this swallow. The tube of a nest 

 in his bath-room fell down, and was not replaced by the old birds, 

 who brought up their young, till within a few days of their flight, 

 when one more venturesome than his brothers and sisters crept to the 

 edge of the nest and fell over. After vainly trying to replace their dead 

 offspring, the disconsolate parents, although their nesting was nearly 

 over, repaired the broken tube to prevent a recurrence of the 

 catastrophe. 



